A Day In The Life With Sarah Rousseau
Excerpts from Sarah J. Rousseau’s wagon train diary.
September 1, 1864 (Utah Lake)
Thursday
Went to see Mrs. Hamilton for a while. Both her and the baby are well. Mrs. Hays is doing well. Mattie Field is working for them.
September 8, 1864
Thursday
Libby has gone back and said some of them are talking of coming here to camp awhile. I wish they would. … Libby is expecting [Mary] Eliza Curtis and Jane Hamilton to visit her today. It is two miles and a half from their camping place to where we are.
Want to start reading from the beginning? Click here!
September 15, 1864 (Wild Goose Springs)
Thursday
A pleasant morning. Good deal warmer than it has been a few days back. Mr. Earp left this morning. The rest of the train intend laying over a few days. Mrs. Curtis and Hamilton came up this morning to see us. They intend moving their camping place. They don’t like it where they are.
September 16, 1864
Friday
Last night was pretty bright moonlight. The girls, Jane Hamilton and Eliza Curtis, came and staid [sic] with Libby all night.
September 29, 1864 (Corn Creek Settlement)
Thursday
I went over to see Mrs. Hamilton. Stay until after dinner. Called on Mrs. Jesse Curtis, had some chit chat after which Mrs. Curtis and I went to Mrs. Hamilton’s. I then came home.
Meet the Characters: Jane Hamilton & Mary Hays
Sarah Jane Auten (sur.), 26, is the wife of Marion County law clerk and Methodist preacher, John B. Hamilton. John worked with Mrs. Hays’ father, Hon. Israel Curtis, leading County attorney. John and Sarah, married in 1861, have a child with them named “Oscar” who is able to ride a horse – placing him at an age that precedes the wedding and leads researchers to the Orphan Train adoptions at the Methodist church in Bussy, Iowa.
Jane’s unnamed newborn arrived under duress on July 15th after back-to-back malicious tribal encounters. Labor was relatively short. The train stopped to feed the horses, heard she was “sick,” relocated a mile down the road to accommodate, then “Mrs. Hamilton had a fine son about a couple of hours after we camped” (Rousseau, July 15). Diarist, Sarah Jane Rousseau likely calls her “Jane” to avoid confusion with others on the trip. Her own daughter, Sarah Elizabeth is “Libby,” while Mary Elizabeth is “Eliza.” After Matilda Fields leaves to marry, Libby assists the new mothers.
Mary Elizabeth Curtis (sur.), 28, married Steven Thomas Hays, Union Private who mustered out after only one year. Her firstborn arrived during a time of rampant illness amongst the camps. Laying over near Utah Lake, the wagon train fights Mountain Fever while neighbors complain of Diphtheria. Delivering baby Charles takes 22 hours. She “takes sick about midnight” on Aug. 26th, “the Dr. was up all night attending to Mrs. H.,” before its noted, “Hays had a fine son about 10 o’clock Saturday night, Aug 27” (Rousseau). A total of three babies were born on the trip with a fourth born immediately before the Pella Company began in May.
Researcher Comments
What To Expect: Post-partum care for women of this era required stillness, darkness, and silence for the first two hours after birth to reduce chances of puerperal fever or “childbed fever.” Nineteenth-century physicians recommended upwards of a fortnight in total rest, abstaining from visitors. This would have been highly impractical and a potentially dangerous practice along the westward trails. A wonderful collection of ideas on this topic is found in Essays of the Puerperal Fever and other diseases peculiar to women, compiled by Dr. F. Churchill in 1850. It is accessible through the Wellcome Collection online (link: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/jj6t7sx4).
Ready for the next month’s “Day In…?” Click here!
For genealogical resources on the Rousseau Family and their lives as pioneers in Iowa, click here.
Excerpts come from Across the Plains by Sarah Jane Rousseau, 1864. Interpretative material by Janelle Molony, family researcher and author of the creative narrative based on the Pella Company, From Where I Sat. The original Diary covers May 13, 1864, to December 18, 1864, and includes locations from Pella, Iowa to San Bernardino, California. (NOT available for public resale or distribution.)
Author Byline
Janelle Molony is the g-g-g-granddaughter of Dr. James and Sarah Rousseau and current family historian. With the cooperation of other descendants, Molony is authoring a novel based on the 1864 wagon train.
For questions, or to interview the historian regarding the novel project, please Contact Me.
Special thanks to the Pella Historical Society (https://www.pellahistorical.org/) and San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society (http://www.sbhistoricalsociety.com/) for your cooperation and support!
*Cover artwork features First Born by Gustave Leonard de Jonghe.